---
title: 'I am much obliged to you,' said the cat, as the fish laid the stone… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: 'I am much obliged to you,' said the cat, as the fish laid the stone on the sand, 'and to reward you, I will let your river alone.' Who acts: fish, I. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 15, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 15, sentence 45

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
'I am much obliged to you,' said the cat, as the fish laid the stone on the sand, 'and to reward you, I will let your river alone.'

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** fish, I · **What happens:** oblige, say, lay, reward, let · **To what, where:** I, you, cat, stone, sand, river · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 15. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fish, I), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg3027:15:45
# text = 'I am much obliged to you,' said the cat, as the fish laid the stone on the sand, 'and to reward you, I will let your river alone.'
1	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
4	much	much	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	obliged	oblige	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	32	advcl	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
17	laid	lay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	on	on	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	sand	sand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
24	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	reward	reward	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	conj	_	_
28	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
30	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
31	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
33	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
35	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	32	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **oblige** | present · passive |  | I | you |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  | the cat |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent cat=Topic |
| 3 | **lay** | past | the fish | the stone |  | the sand |  |  | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent stone=Theme on sand=Destination |
| 4 | **reward** | to-infinitive |  |  | you |  |  |  | vn equip-13.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent you=Recipient |
| 5 | **let** | future | I | your river |  |  |  | alone *property* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent river=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3027 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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